Structure and Culture in Human Resource Management Essay

Structure and Culture in Human Resource Management - Essay Example 251 - 278). Culture is a set of basic shared assumptions that the group learns and taught to new members as the responses to problems (Schein, 2006). Cultures differ with structures. To achieve the maximum HR performance, ogranisation structure should be chosen based on the environment in which the organisation operates (Bartol and Martin, 1998, p. 251 - 278), its strategy (Bartol and Martin, 1998, p. 251 - 278), the size of the organisation (Bartol and Martin, 1998, p. 251 - 278), technology (Woodward, 1965, p. 76 - 77), and the type of exceptions that occur during production (Perrow, 1967, p. 194 - 208). If the environment in which the organisation operates is uncertain, it should adopt an organic structure for quicker response. Also, structure must match strategy to achieve HR performance. For example, a functional structure should be adopted if the organisation sells a large volume of a single product in the same region; a product structure should be adopted if the organisation sells several dissimilar products; and a customer structure should be adopted if the organisation deals with different sets of customers each of whom is very large and important. More over, as the size of an organisation increases, there are more departments, more levels of hierarchy, and more staff positions. After a point, formalisation and decentralisation come in. Furthermore, organisation structure should match production technology. The three types